What was the lost battalion about?

The Lost Battalion is the name given to nine units of the United States 77th Division, roughly 554 men, isolated by German forces during World War I after an American attack in the Argonne Forest in October 1918. Roughly 197 were killed in action and approximately 150 missing or taken prisoner before 194 remaining men were rescued. They were led by Major Charles White Whittlesey.

Units involved>

308th Infantry Regiment:

Companies A,B,C,E,G,H

307th Infantry Regiment:

K Company

306th Machinegun Battalion:

C, D Companies


Action in the Argonne>

On October 2, the division quickly advanced into the Argonne, under the belief that French forces were supporting the left flank and two American units were supporting the right flank. Unknown to Whittlesey's unit, the French advance had been stalled. Without this knowledge, they moved beyond the rest of the allied line and found themselves completely cut off and surrounded by German forces. For the next six days, the men of the division were forced to fight off several attacks by the Germans, who saw the small American units as a threat to their whole line. The battalion suffered many hardships. Food was short, and water was available only by crawling under fire to a nearby stream. Ammunition ran low. Friendly artillery fire was dropped on their position, which was surrounded by the putrefying corpses of fallen comrades. Communications was also a problem, as every runner dispatched by Whittlesey either became lost or ran into German patrols. The only reliable mode of communicating with headquarters was through the use of carrier pigeons, but this was both time consuming and they could only send messages, but not receive. Because of this, at times, they would be bombarded by shells from their own artillery, because of incorrect coordinates sent back by Whittlesey. Despite this, they held their ground and caused enough of a distraction for other allied units to break through the German lines, which forced the Germans to retreat.


Aftermath>

Of the over five hundred soldiers that entered the Argonne Forest, only 194 were able to walk out unscathed. The rest were killed, missing, captured, or wounded. Major Charles White Whittlesey, along with several other officers received the Medal of Honor for their valiant actions. Whittlesey was also recognized by being a pallbearer at the ceremony interring the remains of the Unknown Soldier. However, it appears that the experience weighed heavily on him. Whittlesey disappeared from a ship, in what is believed to have been (and was reported as) a suicide, in 1921.

Former professional baseball player Eddie Grant was killed in one of the subsequent missions in search of the battalion. He had a large plaque placed in centerfield of the Polo Grounds in New York in his honor.

Brigadier General Billy Mitchell wrote after the rescue that the Germans had managed to prevent supplies being air-dropped to the battalion. He ordered:[1]

...chocolate and concentrated food and ammunition dropped.... Our pilots thought they had located it from the panel that it showed, and dropped off considerable supplies, but later I found out they had received none of the supplies we had dropped off. The Germans had made up a panel like theirs and our men had calmly dropped off the nice food to the Germans who undoubtedly ate it with great thanksgiving....

Medal of Honor>

Charles White Whittlesey,
Nelson M. Holderman,
George G. McMurtry,
Erwin R. Bleckley,
Harold E. Goettler

Distinguished Service Cross>

William Begley, Raymond Blackburn, George W. Botelle, James W. Bragg, Clifford R. Brown, Philip "Zip" Cepaglia, William J. Cullen, James Dolan, Joseph Friel, Jack D. Gehris, Jeremiah Healey, Stanislaw Kosikowski, Abraham Krotoshinsky, Irving Louis Liner, Henry Miller, James J. Murphy, Holgar Peterson, Frank J. Pollinger, Harry Rogers, Haakon A. Rossum, Joseph C. Sauer, Gordon L. Schenck, Irving Sirota, Sidney Smith, Albert E. Summers and Charles W. Turner